Love and Death
by Jareth's Labyrinth
Summary: This is Harry's final showdown with Voldemort with the point of view of dead people watching. [i.e. Sirius Black, James Potter, etc.] It's quite entertaining.
1. Checking Up On Old Friends

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This story is finished...i'm just redoing things that I want to fix.

I'll probably put up a chapter a day.

Please read and review!!!!

It's my favorite story that I've written.

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Chapter One

Checking Up On Old Friends

Sirius Black stared intently over the top of his cards. His best friend, James Potter, stared back at him, just as stony faced. He was going to win this time, he knew it. James's wife, Lily, was also playing, and so was Albus Dumbledore, a new entrant into their dreary gray world of Afterlife.

"All right Sirius," James said. "It's all or nothing."

"You're going down, James," Sirius said, grinning inwardly. Halfway through his motion of putting down his winning hand of cards, a screen popped up through the table and scattered the cards everywhere. "No," Sirius said dejectedly. "Why does someone have to die right when I am about to win?"

"Why do we even have to watch at all?" Dumbledore asked.

"Because someone way back complained about having to answer the repeated question, 'How did _you_ snuff it?' and so now we have to watch everyone die, to simplify things. Most of the time people are just dying of old age, which gets pretty boring after a while. But occasionally we get a frantic Death Eater chase or a poison or something that drags away from the monotony of old geezer after old geezer." Lily looked disparagingly at Sirius.

"Ah, not another old guy," James said, staring at the screen. The group watched in silence as an old man, lying on is deathbed, spoke his final goodbyes and last wishes in a wheezy voice to his surrounding family. Extended family, by the looks of it.

"Wait a second…" Sirius said, peering into the screen. "Is that-is that Remus Lupin? Standing off to the left?"

"What?" James asked. "Oh, yes, I think it is! Man, he looks different. Old. I almost didn't recognize him."

"And Tonks too, I believe," Dumbledore said.

"Who's Tonks?"

"The one with the black hair by Lupin," Sirius put in.

"A new member of the Order," Dumbledore said. "A rather vivacious Auror, if I do say so myself."

They turned back to the screen again, just in time for the old man to say, "And Remus, I am glad I have gotten to know you in this past year, with you and my dear daughter Nymphadora. You are truly a helpful son-in-law."

Lupin smiled wanly. "I try, sir," he said softly.

"That's why I want you and Nymphadora to have the cottage by the sea," the old man went on. "I know that my being ill has monopolized the first year of your marriage, and I want to give some back." And then the old man died, and just before the screens clouded over and went black, they saw Lupin hold a sobbing Nymphadora in his arms and kiss the top of her head. Then the screen faded back into the table.

"Lupin? Married?" James asked incredulously. "Why didn't you tell us?" he rounded on Sirius.

"Hey," Sirius said. "I'm as surprised as you. I wasn't even under the impression that they knew each other that well. It must have been after Dumbledore died."

"I think it's romantic," Lily said. "I'm glad Remus has found someone. He's been so alone his whole life."

"I'm going to go find that old man," James said, getting up from the table, and, upon his return with the old man, the table proceeded to question him about everything from when he first met Lupin to the wedding decorations, to his mannerisms.

"The one thing that I remember most about that wedding was that Harry Potter was there!" he said, not knowing that Harry's parents were sitting next to him. "He was such a nice boy, too. He and his girlfriend sat next to me at the banquet I think. A very intelligent young man."

When the old man left, James had a foolish grin on his face. "That was enlightening," he said.

"Do you know anything about this girlfriend of Harry's?" Lily asked Dumbledore. "You were the one who saw him in school last."

"How do you know it was-"

"The last I heard was that Harry was currently going out with Miss Ginny Weasley," Dumbledore said, cutting James off.

"One of Molly's children?" Lily asked.

"The Weasley's finally got a girl?" James asked.

"Yes," Sirius said. "And a very free spirited one, at that."

The screen popped up again and they watched as a middle-aged woman was hunted down by a frenzied Death Eater.

"Does that satisfy your thirst for a more exciting death, Sirius?" Lily asked scathingly.

"Certainly it does. I'm sure you guys appreciated the break from the monotony of old age when you watched _me_ die."

"No, I did not!" Lily said. "I thought it was horrible. I _wanted_ to watch you die of old age."

"I didn't!" James said. "I wanted to watch you put up a he Death Eater fight. Which by the way, mate, was really-" Lily cut him off with an icy stare. "I mean, so did I…want to see you as a old man…"

"Well, after thirteen years in Azkaban, I wasn't entirely sure I'd make it that far," Sirius said.

"I think you would have seen old age, Sirius, if you hadn't been so desperate to get out of your house," Dumbledore said.

"Yes, you were quite reckless on that point," Lily said.

"Can we stop talking about me, please?" Sirius said. "Who wants to start another card game?"

"I think we should give the casino manager back his cards," Lily said.

"We can go pillage something interesting off the Egyptains," James said ecstatically. "Since they are the only ones who bury they're entire life's possessions with them. Everyone else just has what ever they had on them when they died, which is usually nothing. Or lint. And there was someone with a Muggle yo-yo…"

"If I had known that I would be able to use whatever I had on me in the Afterlife, I would have stuffed Monopoly or something into my pocket."

"If I had a dime for every time _you've_ said that," Lily said to James. "I'd be a millionaire."

The death-watching screen came up again before James had a chance to stand up and walk to the Egyptians, so he sat down with a sigh, which hastily changed to a gasp of horror.

"It's Hogwarts!" he said hoarsely.

They all stared in horror as a mass of Death Eaters marched up to the gate, Voldemort in the lead.


	2. Hogwarts Has Fallen

Chapter Two

Hogwarts Has Fallen

"Harry, have you seen Arnold?"

Harry Potter looked up from his nearly finished Transfiguration essay into Ginny's worried eyes. "I'm sure he's around some where, Ginny," he consoled, looking around the room for the purple fluffy creature.

"You don't think Crookshanks-"

"No, Hermione told Crookshanks not to bother Arnold."

"Yes, but still-I don't like it when he hides from me. The last time he hid was last year, when the Death Eaters came…I suppose you think I'm being silly, worried over a pygmy puff."

"No, of course not," Harry said, and hugged Ginny. "When Ron and Hermione get back, I'll tell them to look out for him."

"They're still not back from dinner?" she asked, brow furrowed. "It's almost seven o' clock."

"I don't think dinner was what they had in mind, but no, they're not back yet."

"Have you eaten yet?"

"No-I was on a roll with McGonagall's essay so I sort of forgot."

"Good. Come and eat dinner with me."

Harry and Ginny walked slowly down to the Great Hall, taking one of Harry's trusty shortcuts to avoid the annoying Sir Cadogan and his stumpy horse.

Rounding the corner into the mostly empty Great Hall, the pair caught sight of Ron and Hermione, sitting apart from everyone else.

"Oh, right-I forgot- It's Hermione's birthday," Harry said with chagrin.

"Don't worry," Ginny said. "I think finishing your homework is enough of a present for her."

Ron, apparently, gave Hermione something more. After openeing a golden wrapped box, Hermione proceeded to give Ron a thoroughly nonverbal thanks. Harry raised his eyebrows.

Ginny giggled. "Hermione's had been waiting for Ron for almost three years. It's a good thing he's finally wised up to it."

Just then, as Harry and Ginny were about to sit down, there was a huge explosion. It shook the walls and shattered some of the windows. Ginny grabbed Harry for support as the ground shook, and Hermione and Ron fell to the floor.

"What the hell was that?" Harry asked, shocked, and he and Ginny went into the entrance hall. They were joined shortly by Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the students in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"What's all this ruckus?" asked a very flustered Professor McGonagall. "What's going on?"

"There was just a loud explosion, Professor," Ginny said. "Peeves, do you think?"

"No, Peeves was in the kitch-" Another loud boom resonated around the entrance hall, and the front doors began to crack visibly.

"It's coming from the other side of the door," Ginny said.

With yet another ear splitting crash, the two marvelous oak front doors burst inward, spraying everyone watching with dust and bits of wood.


	3. Multipicity

Chapter Three

Multiplicity

There were so many deaths, that the screen stayed up, fading only slightly in between separate ones. Bits and pieces of what was happening flashed before Sirius' shocked and angry eyes.

It was like watching a badly cut horror movie.

He watched as the Death Eaters marched up to the castle, blew in the doors. He saw his godson, Harry, get up from the rubble, and reach his hand down to help up Ginny Weasley. He saw Ron and Hermione dash into the hall, eyes wide in shock. He growled inwardly as Severus Snape and Lord Voldemort, side by side, systematically destroyed Hogwarts, with the help of the entire Death Eater clan. They were aiming curses and hexes at stone and student alike, sending debris every which way. Lily was sobbing next to him, and James was stony faced.

He lost count on how many Hogwarts students were murdered before his eyes.

And there was nothing he could do about it.

"There's Harry again," James said tonelessly. Harry pulled Ginny out of the way of the falling ceiling, thrusting her behind a tapestry, and the screen faded to another part of the castle. Sirius caught sight of Ron and Hermione in the background of another scene before they faded out again.

The next scene was of Gryffindor Tower-Sirius recognized it. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny clambered through the portrait hole and up the stairs to the boys dormitory. He was scared for a moment that it was _their_ death he was watching, but noticed that a first or second year was following them; that the picture was focused on the younger student.

The tower shuddered violently. "Get on the broom!" Harry shouted at Ron, who had grabbed his Cleansweep. "Take Hermione-" Another boom sent them to the ground. "You and Hermione fly to the gate, alright? Then Apparate to your mother's house and tell her what's happening!" Another shudder. "Go!" Harry said, and Ron, with Hermione holding tightly around his waist, flew as fast as he could towards the gate.

Sirius could see that the tower seemed tilted somewhat.

"Harry?" he heard Ginny say in a strained voice. "The tower is moving." And, sure enough, a deafening groan filled their ears as the tower began to pull away from the castle.

"Hurry, get on!" Harry said, and gestured to his Firebolt. Ginny ran to him and clasped her arms about his waist as she got on the broom behind him. The tower began to lean faster now, and Harry gestured for the young student to grab on too, holding out his hand. The tower crumbled, and the student was sucked in between the falling rocks as he reached for Harry's hand.

The screen faded again, and Sirius reeled from the multiplicity of deaths that had occurred in the past five minutes. Lily sobbed still harder as it continued. The flashes were less frequent now, as the castle was mostly destroyed. Some students had escaped to the ground and out, Apparating to a safe place, but some didn't make it. Like Harry and Ginny. A deflected curse shot down his broom in the background of another death. But They must still be alive, Sirius thought, or I would have seen it. They're still alive, still-

But his heart stopped, and Lily gasped as the screen focused clearly on his godson.


	4. Prelude To A Murder

Chapter Four

Prelude to a Murder

"Ginny! Go!" Harry yelled, pushing her back, away from the advancing Death Eaters. Voldemort was coming up fast, full of rage and hatred.

"No!" she said. "I'm not going to leave without you!"

"Dammit, Ginny! It's Voldemort! He's going to kill you! You have to get away!"

"I know it's Voldemort, Harry. And what do you think he will do to you when he gets here? Invite you to a tea party?"

Harry groaned in exasperation. "You can't die here, Ginny, cowering in and old shed, dying for nothing. You have to go, and live to fight another day."

"You can't tell me what I can and cannot die for, Harry. That's my decision, not yours."

"Your mother would kill me if she knew I let you stay here with me," Harry protested feebly.

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her," Ginny snarled.

"What about Ron and Hermione?"

"What about them?"

"Someone has to go tell them where Voldemort is, so they can warn the Order."

"Why don't you go do that then?" Ginny asked icily. "And I'll follow."

"And lead Voldemort right to them? I don't think so."

Ginny had him in a corner. There was no way he could make her go, and she knew that. "But-" he started, but was cut off as Ginny kissed him fiercely, hands around his neck. It was more intense than anything she had ever done before, more serious. He kissed her back, and he felt tears on her face as she held him to her tightly. They broke away as footsteps and shouting drew nearer, coming up the hill towards the shed they were in.

"Last chance, Ginny," Harry said.

"I'm staying."

Harry managed to push her down behind a crate just when the door burst open, and he was face to face with Lord Voldemort.

"Ah, there you are, Harry. Hiding in a shed. How heroic." Mocking hatred dripped off of every syllable. "Where's the other one?'

Harry's stomach flipped. So he had seen Ginny. "What other one?" he asked defiantly.

"Don't lie to me, Potter," Voldemort snapped, and, before Harry was ready, penetrated his mind with Legilimency.

No…Harry thought, trying to clear his mind and shut Voldemort away, but thoughts of Ginny swam unwillingly to the surface of his mind. Sitting by the Lake at Hogwarts, walking around Diagon Alley, how she looked at Bill and Fleur's wedding, and finally, kissing her in the shed not more than a minute ago.

"Ah," Voldemort cackled. "Where is your little friend now?" Harry looked unwillingly down behind the crate, and discovered that Ginny wasn't there. He could see the faint outline of a trapdoor, and looked back at Voldemort again.

"I don't know," Harry replied defiantly.

"DON'T LIE TO ME."

The words were spoken with such force that Harry was forced backward-and he seized his chance, jumping into the now open trapdoor and shut it.

"Ginny!" Harry said despairingly. She kissed him and dragged him forward, through the supports of the old house-shed, stopping just before they came out into the open, looking out from under the building. They lay on the dirt, panting slightly, listening to the angry footsteps of the searching Death Eaters.

"What are we going to do?" Ginny asked. "We can't go out, they'll see us from the window. And it's only a matter of time before we're caught here. "

"I don't know, Ginny," Harry said. "I just don't want anything to happen to you-"

"Will you stop worrying about me for once?" Ginny asked impatiently. "I have been taught how to defend myself by the best teacher I could find."

"Who was that?"

"You, Harry! I mean, honestly…"

"Yeah, but still-"

Harry stared back at Ginny's hard, blazing look that he'd fallen in love with, and could think of nothing to say. A large pair of feet thudded onto the ground, inches from their hiding place, startling them both.

"I can't find them, Master!" A booming voice shouted. "They're not outside! They must have-"

"They can't have Disapparated, fool! This is Hogwarts, or what's left of it!"

So he was going to die here, thought Harry. Crouching under the ruins of Professor Sprout's greenhouses. Well, not if he could help it.

"What are you going to do now?" Ginny asked him.

"I have no idea."


	5. A Final Death

Chapter 5

A Final Death

Ginny screamed as she was suddenly pulled out from under the greenhouse.

"No!" Harry yelled, and came out after her, but he was flung back into the wall. "Ginny!'

The large Death Eater tied her up and threw her on the ground, finishing just in time to grab Harry's arms and hold him back.

"So this is your little friend," Voldemort said. "How charming." He ran his long, thin fingers under Ginny's chin.

"Don't touch her," Harry snarled through gritted teeth. "Leave her alone."

"Oh, I don't think I will, Voldemort said, then called over his shoulder. "Snape?"

A tall, dark figure emerged from the shadows, and Harry stared, eyes full of hatred, into the face of Severus Snape.

"Yes, master?" he said in an oily voice.

"What is the name of this young lady?"

"That would be Miss Ginny Weasley, my Lord."

"Ah, a Weasley," Voldemort said airily, raising his wand. But he did not kill her as Harry thought, but instead undid the ropes tying her hands together. "Stand up, Miss Weasley," he said softly. Harry struggled against his bonds futilely. "Now, answer some of my questions, please," he circled around her. "And trust me on this: I shall know if you are lying." Ginny nodded almost imperceptibly, and Harry could see she was trying not to show her fear. "Now, first question. How long have you known Harry Potter?"

"A-about six or seven years,' she stuttered.

"Interesting. And how long have you been romantically involved with him?"

Ginny shut her eyes tight. "I don't know what you're t-t-talking about."

"Oh, I think you do," Voldemort spoke sinuously. "ANSWER THE QUESTION."

Ginny whimpered and didn't speak for a moment. "A little more than a year," she said finally.

Harry could not understand _why_ Voldemort was asking all these questions. What did it matter to him the state of his and Ginny's relationship?

"And if I kill him, what do you think you'll remember most about him?" Voldemort asked. "Will you remember him in ten years, do you think?"

Ginny couldn't contain herself. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she stood in front of the Death Eaters. She locked eyes with Harry, and could not speak. Harry finally understood what Voldemort was doing. He was destroying Ginny emotionally, rather than physically. By not killing her, and making her relive the good memories they had shared, so that it would be all the more painful for her when Harry died.

Because Harry seemed to know he was about to die, and everything was perfectly clear. He knew what he had to do.

"Answer the question, Miss Weasley."

Ginny looked up at him defiantly this time, with no trace of tears. "I will remember this," she hissed at him. "I will remember that he is, and has been, a much stronger man than you will ever be. " Voldemort's eyes flashed. "I will remember his courage and bravery in the face of danger, the fact that he puts others before himself. You are weak compared to him, Voldemort. You can't even confront him without your followers, cannot kill him unless he is bound and broken, tied up like an animal and defenseless. That is what I'll remember, Voldemort. Not the fact that he died, but the fact that he lived."

Harry could feel the anger building inside Voldemort. It was now or never, and his insides burned in agony at the thought of what it would do to Ginny. But he had to do it. It was the only way to finish Voldemort, once and for all.

He twisted suddenly in the Death Eater's grip, and then he was free. He ran towards Ginny-and it seemed that time had opened up an infinite window for him-and just as Voldemort screamed his fatal words at Ginny, Harry flung himself in front of her, and he was dead before he hit the ground.

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Wait! Hang On! Don't hate me!!!!!

There are...4 more chapters after this. Well...one isn't _exactly_ a chapter but anyway...my re-editing is almost done. I have to redo the ending a little because I wasn't happy with it. But I'm almost done. I have this wierd thing that I where I _have got to_ have a happy ending. So what if I'm a hopeless romantic?

Sorry to keep ya waiting though...I'm a fast typer but a slow and picky editor. :)


	6. Memoriam

Chapter 6

Memoriam

Sirius stared in shock as the fading image of his dead godson imprinted itself upon his memory.

He heard Lily sobbing harder on his left, although it seemed as if he were far away.

James sat still, breathing heavily.

The screen centered on Voldemort, but no one at the table was really watching.

They didn't cheer with everyone around them as Voldemort collapsed inwardly on himself, screaming in defiance the whole time.

Or when the entire scene faded and the death-watching screens retracted, signaling that Voldemort was finally finished.

They only watched each other, knowing that the one person they had all given their lives for, in the hopes he would live, had finally died.

And all Sirius could think about was-

"I would have won that card game."


	7. A Bittersweet Reunion

Chapter 7

A Bittersweet Reunion

Harry fell onto a hard, gray floor.

"Sorry it's so hard," said a voice. "Only someone's gone and stolen the cushions."

Harry sat up, confused.

"What?" he said, looking up, and his eyes met a crinkly old man in clothes most likely found at the Renaissance Festival.

"I said, 'Sorry about the hard landing,'" the man replied, and offered a hand to lift Harry up off the grayish floor.

"Wait a minute," Harry said, standing. "How did I get here? I was with Ginny-Voldemort…Hogwarts?" he mumbled lamely, trying to piece things together.

"Yes, you were," the old man said. "but then you died, and now you're here, in Afterlife."

"Afterlife?"

"You know, where every wizard goes when he dies, all that talk abou' seeing dead friends and family when you 'cross over' and suchlike."

"Oh." It was all he could say.

The man cocked his ear and ushered Harry behind him. "Got another one comin' in now, you might want 't' stand back."

Harry backed away hastily as an old woman, scarcely taller than his elbow, appeared where Harry had just been lying.

"It's about time," the old woman said exasperatedly. "If I hadn't gone off by the time my son-in-law had gotten there, I would've had to do it myself!" And she hobbled through a pair of gray doors.

"You go on through now, young man," the wizard said.

"And do what?" Harry asked. "Where do I go?"

"Go find a family member, or party it up with those American fraternity brothers and the Never-Ending beer keg down the hall. Trust American wizards to die with one of those clutched in their hand." The man cocked his ear again. "I don't care whatcha do. It's your Afterlife."

Harry turned and walked through the double doors into…well he didn't know how to describe it. A room that seemed to be both inside and outside at the same time, that had couches, chairs, tables, swimming pools, grass, cows, monkeys, ferrets, clouds, pyramids-just about everything. But that wasn't the weirdest part. No sooner had he stopped and looked around, people started standing up, staring at him in unabashedly. Some even started clapping as he passed.

You would think I'd be used to this, thought Harry. But I'm not.

He didn't know _what _he was looking for, but he found it. A mane of untidy black hair sitting at a table with his godfather and professor Dumbledore, and a woman with startling green eyes. Just like his. He crept up on the table cautiously. People had stopped cheering now.

Sirius saw him first, getting up from the table quickly.

"Harry."

Lily Potter looked up at the mention of her son's name and he was instantly scooped into a hug. "Oh, Harry!" she said. " I missed you so much! Look how big you are!"

"Jesus, Lily, let him breathe," Harry's father said, standing up, and Harry came face to face with an almost direct likeness of himself, a few years older. Holy crap, it's like looking in a mirror, isn't it?" he said to Harry.

"I told you," Sirius said. "If it wasn't for his eyes, I would have thought he was you."

"And I can see why," Lily said. "Oh, you've grown to be so handsome…"

James grinned at Sirius behind Lily's back, pointing to himself. Sirius whacked him on the back of his head. "You try to turn every comment she makes one about you, don't you?" Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

Harry grinned inwardly. It felt good to be hugged by his own mother, laughing at his own father. He was surrounded by his family for the first time in his life, and it felt good. Only something was missing, something big, torn out of his heart.

"That was a romantic thing you did for that young woman," his mother said, and Ginny swarmed into his mind's eye. He would never see her again…

"What?" Harry asked, confused.

"We saw the last, I don't know, ten minutes or so of your life, mate," Sirius said.

"Yep, made your mother cry," James added.

"Do you know if Voldemort…?"

"Yep."

"So Ginny…"

"As far as I know."

Harry closed his eyes in pain. His chest constricted with the absence of Ginny beside him. He was separated from her forever. Even though he was glad beyond possibility that he was with his mother and father and Sirius, it was a bittersweet reunion.


	8. Another Chance

Chapter 8

Another Chance

"I know it hurts, darling," his mother said as Harry slumped into a chair. "But you'll see her again."

"Yeah, when she's old and married and has ten grandchildren and forgotten all about me."

"I don't think she'll forget you, Harry," Sirius said.

"Oh?"

"You heard as well as we did what she said to Voldemort," James said.

"I forgot you guys saw all that," Harry said, blushing slightly.

"Cheer up, Harry," his mother put in. "You've defeated Voldemort, freed the entire Wizarding community. Now Ginny ad her family can live peacefully, without having to fear for their lives, which is the greatest thing you could have done."

"So you figured it out, didn't you, Harry?" said a familiar voice behind him.

"Professor!" Harry exclaimed, seeing Dumbledore. "Yes sir, I did."

"Good. I knew you would, and how hard it would be for you."

Harry sighed. "Yessir. But it all worked out okay, didn't it?"

"But not for you." It wasn't a question.

Harry averted his eyes. "Nossir, not really."

"I can fix that."

"What?"

"There are special rules for cases such as yours," Dumbledore went on. "For those who give their lives for the ones they love."

Harry stared at him. "What do you mean, sir?" he asked.

"We can send you back, if you want," Sirius clarified.

"Send me back?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Yes, " Lily said. "When you have given your life for the one you love and the public good, a selfless sacrifice, in other words, you can be sent back. Only, everyone here in Afterlife has to agree. You are the first one to ever have the option. Everyone here thinks you deserve another chance at life."

Harry stared at them all. "Seriously? But what about you and Dad, and Sir-"

"We want you to go, too," James said. "Seventeen is far too young to be here. Go back to Miss Weasley."

"We'll always be with you," his mother added, holding him close. "We always have been. You just have to know where to look."

Afterlife seemed to fade in Harry's vision. "What does that mean?" he called to his fading mother.

Her voice sounded far away as things blurred more and Harry felt a warm feeling grow from his chest. "You'll know, " she said. "Trust me."

"Say hi to Lupin for us," James said faintly, and Harry couldn't see them anymore.


	9. A Happy Ending

Chapter 9

A Happy Ending

Harry woke in a dark room. He was a little stiff, but after a quick check of his vital functions, he concluded that he was alright. A light bobbed down the hall towards him, accompanied by muttering.

"Don't know why they make me come down here-they're dead, aren't they? Don't need checking up on. Place gives me the creeps, anyway."

"Hello?" Harry called out, sitting up. The matron screamed, dropping her lamp and running back the way she came. "Sorry," he said lamely after her, knowing how it must look, a presumed dead person sitting up and saying hello. The matron might never be the same after that.

The matron raised the alarm of a talking dead person, and several officials came down to the room Harry was in shortly after she had disappeared up the stairs. After saying several times that he wasn't and Inferi, or a zombie, or any type of living-dead creature, it was assumed that he'd just been in a very deep coma. Harry let them think that. He didn't want to be stuck in the insane asylum.

"We were about to notify your aunt and uncle," a Healer said, after Harry had been checked out and it had been verified that he was functioning normally. "But now that you're okay, which is miraculous, we won't bother."

"Thanks," Harry said. "Not that they care, either way. Er, why is it miraculous that I'm perfectly fine?"

"Usually a coma as long as yours, and the injuries you sustained, you would think something would be wrong. But there's nothing I can see."

"Oh. Well, that's good, then."

"Very well, Mr. Potter, you're free to go," the Healer said, clearly not paying attention to what Harry was saying. "Since you're seventeen, we don't need to release you to anyone."

Harry walked out onto the crowded Muggle street in front of St. Mungo's and visualized his destination, and with determination, he spun on the spot and Disapparated.

He appeared in front of the Burrow, just like he'd planned. He opened the creaky front gate and walked down the path to the front door. He couldn't have pulled it off more casually than if he'd been holding a box of Girl Scout cookies. He knocked softly on the door.

"Coming!" he heard Mrs. Weasley call.

"Don't worry, Molly, I got it," Harry heard Lupin say.

"No, no, dear, you sit down. I got it." The door was pulled gently open.

Mrs. Weasley gasped. "_Harry_!" she said, crushing him in a huge hug.

"Hey, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said with the air of someone who just had all the air squeezed out of his lungs.

"We saw you-dead-how..?" Lupin stuttered.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Harry said wryly as he was released from Mrs. Weasley's grip.

"Mrs. Weasley, where's Ginny?"

He saw her beam and clap her hands together. "Out back in the garden, dear, with Ron and Hermione."

Harry headed to the garden door, nodding at Nymphadora and her bright pink hair.

"For the last time, Ron, it's a _telephone_, not a 'fellytone'," came Hermione's exasperated voice. "And don't hold your nephew like that." A small cry from Bill and Fleur's three month old baby issued from around the corner.

"Well, how am I supposed to hold him, then?"

"Like this. Now, what's my address?"

"415 Wisteria Place."

"What are you guys doing?" came Ginny's voice.

"Ron's coming over to my house next week to meet my parents."

"Good luck with that," Ginny said bitterly.

"Oh, Ginny, I'm sorry-I didn't mean…" Hermione said softly, and went over to her. Ron went back to playing with his nephew.

"Ron, you don't hold it like that," Harry said to exasperatedly. "Haven't you ever held a baby before?" Ron stared at him in shock. Harry looked around, scanning the garden.

"Where's Ginny?" he asked him.

"Uh, up there," he said, pointing. "On her balcony…"

"Hey, Ginny, watch out!" came the voice of one of the twins. Something exploded from their room, knocking one of the shutters down onto Ginny's balcony below. She stepped back to avoid it, and lost her balance, falling over the railing.

"I got her," Harry said in response to Hermione's gasp of horror, and caught Ginny in his arms as she fell. "That would have been a nasty fall," Harry said to her, and set her on her feet. Ginny's eyes widened in shock as she saw Harry, and touched his face gingerly-just to make sure he was real.

"Harry!" she gasped, unable to believe what she was seeing. "How-how are you here?" she asked, trembling. "You were dead…I saw you!"

"I was given a second chance," Harry replied simply, barely finishing his sentence before Ginny kissed him.

* * *

"Don't go out into the garden," Fred announced to the kitchen at large.

"Why not?" asked Mrs. Weasley shrewdly. "What did you do?"

"Who said it was us?" George asked. "If things got any mushier out there, I think they'd both melt away."

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Weasley went over to the window and looked out. "Oh," she said in a happy voice. "How sweet."

"That would explain why he asked about Ginny, not Ron and Hermione," Lupin said calmly.

Harry looked over Ginny's shoulder into the shadows behind the Weasley's house. He felt that there was someone watching him there, but couldn't see anyone. He stared harder, and he could barely make out three shimmering figures leaning against the wall.

_You just have to know where to look, _his mother had said.

Sirius grinned at him, and his father gave him a thumbs up. _I'm so proud of you,_ his mother mouthed at him. _We all are. _


End file.
